Sexual Harassment for a Media Company

ibex gale was instructed to conduct an investigation into complaints that had been raised by three members of staff who alleged they had been subjected to inappropriate behaviour of a sexual nature and sexual harassment by another member of staff.

We were instructed to conduct a fact-finding investigation into the concerns and to consider the following points:

• The roles and responsibilities of those involved (and whether there had been any abuse of power).
• The impact that the behaviours had on the other staff.
• Whether any of the organisation’s policies had been breached such as the Bullying and Harassment and Respect at Work Policies.
• We were also asked to make any appropriate recommendations as a result of any findings that were made, such as whether there was sufficient evidence to support a formal disciplinary process.

Key challenges included:

Allegations Related to Out-of-Work Conduct: The alleged behaviour occurred at a social event outside the workplace setting.

Multiple Complaints: Whilst there were other members of staff who all submitted complaints independently of each other about the same social event and the same member of staff, these were stand-alone events with each incident differing slightly in content from the others, and lacking direct corroboration.

Absence of Independent Witnesses: No third parties were identified as having witnessed the alleged incidents.

Influence of Staff Relationships & Team Culture: It became apparent that the staff all had very close relationships with each other and that the culture amongst staff may have contributed to the situation.

Concerns Over Potential Collusion: There were concerns around collusion between witnesses as it became apparent that the complainants had discussed their experiences with each other prior to the complaints being raised.